Memories
by Kimmy Malfoy
Summary: An AU account of the Academy Days- JC


Summary: Some time at the Academy, took a little bit of liberty with Kathryn and her friends, so I stole Beverly Crusher, what's your point… J  
  
She sat in her ready room, reading her padd. She was to capture and bring back the Maquis deserters, running rampant in the quadrant, just outside of Cardassian space. She scanned the crew list, read their names. "B'Elanna Torres, Tom Suder… her eyes stopped as did her voice when she saw the name of the Captain. " Chakotay…" It couldn't be, it wasn't possible. There had to be another, it couldn't be the Chakotay she knew so many years ago at the academy…   
  
She peered out the window, bored out of her mind. Her roommate was out with her boyfriend and that meant that Kathryn was stuck in her Starfleet issue room, sitting on her Starfleet issue bed, reading Starfleet stuff for her Starfleet exam. She cursed her rotten luck and her boredom. Throwing the padd she was reading onto the floor, she fell backwards onto her bed and decided to let sleep claim her from her torture.   
  
Later, Kathryn awoke to the sound of giggling. She sat up, and asked for the time. It was 0200 in the morning, and so she got up and opened the door to have a word with whoever may have disrupted her sleep. She found it to be none other than her roommate and another person, who she assumed, was Beverly's boyfriend. "Would you to kindly knock it off? I'm trying to get some sleep, not to mention the fact that it's 0200 and you'll probably wake everyone on this floor up. Her harsh whisper startled Beverly.   
"Sorry Kay, I was just coming in anyway. Goodnight Jack" She kissed the man on the cheek and proceeded inside. "Hey, Kay" she called as Kathryn climbed back into the bottom bunk she shared with Beverly Howard "What's the matter? I've never seen you so pissed at me." Kathryn just glared at her, but then let out a deep breath.   
"Gee Bev, maybe it's because I'm incredibly tired of Starfleet, and all the work I have to do, while you are able to just gallivant around into the wee hours of the morning as I fall asleep reading an archeology report." Beverly looked at her friend and sighed "Sorry Kay, but you know, Jack asked me out…"   
"It's not you Bev, I'm just frustrated and I'll admit it, a little jealous, by the way, Jack's a keeper…" They laughed and both drifted off to sleep.   
  
The next morning Kathryn awoke before Beverly and dressed. She walked over to the replicator and ordered coffee and a pastry for breakfast. She quickly ate and left for a walk. She needed to clear her head, and the best way to do that was to walk around the grounds of the Academy. The sun was rising over the water in San Francisco Bay and she absent-mindedly strolled the grounds, content to be alone for just twenty minutes, when she knew Beverly would wake up.  
  
He awoke, careful not to wake his roommate, and dressed. He walked over to the replicator and ordered tea and bread. He ate quickly and left for a walk. He watched as the sun shimmered on the waters of the bay. He absent-mindedly strolled the grounds, content to be alone for just twenty minutes, when he knew Jack would wake up.  
  
With a jolt Kathryn fell to the ground. She looked up to see a hand of a rather handsome man. " I'm sorry, I guess I wasn't paying attention, the beautiful sunrise distracted me." He flashed her a gorgeous smile, and she could see his dimples and something else. A mark, on his forehead, that looked like a tattoo. She was immediately attracted to him. "It's no problem" she replied, flashing a grin of her own. He took her hand and helped her from the ground. He was drawn to her, her red hair glistened in the sun and her blue eyes seemed to draw him to her. With her hand still in his, he introduced himself. "By the way, I'm Chakotay." She looked up at him, and then down at their hands. "I'm Kathryn, but most everyone calls me Kay." She smiled crookedly at him. "Where are you from Chakotay?" His name rolled off her tongue, bouncing in the middle, it was as if she was singing it. " I should ask you likewise Kathryn…" for some reason he preferred her full name, it was beautiful as was she. They smiled at the banter and walked the grounds smiling, talking, and getting aquatinted.   
  
As classes began, she said goodbye to Chakotay, and he to her. He asked her to meet him that night for dinner, and she eagerly agreed. She would not be alone reading padds tonight and she walked into class, elated and happier than ever. That evening the sky grew cloudy and she waited for him, but he never came.  
  
She never saw him again, on her morning walks, anywhere. Her hope of seeing him again faded, and eventually died. She met Justin, and they were happy, they were even engaged to be married, but he had died fifteen years ago, with her father. Now there was Mark, but she still thought of him, every time she stepped onto a ship, every time she boarded her ship, Voyager, she still thought of Chakotay. As they slowed out of warp speed, she stepped onto the bridge and ordered Harry Kim to hail the renegades, to hail Chakotay.   
" Captain Chakotay, I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager, I ask you to stand down, and give up your ship, surrender and no harm will come to you or your crew." But then everything changed, they met Kes and Neelix, Chakotay lost his ship, they almost lost Harry and B'Elanna, and they were stranded seventy-five years from home. They were lost with two crews, two captains, not so different. Not nearly strangers. In her ready room, Kathryn stared at the wall, her back to the door. It beeped and someone walked in. She turned to face the intruder…   
"Kathryn… it's nice to see you again, I'm sorry for everything you know, for the night so many years ago…" His black eyes bore into her soul, and she found that in her heart she still pinned for him, and there he was. As if he was a ghost, she reached up and touched his arm. He covered her hand with his, and smiled. He knees felt weak, like they had so many years ago. She smiled back and they began talking. They talked about Beverly, Jack, even Jean- Luc Picard, her father, their new crew, and they emerged from her ready room, with a solution. They were to be one crew, Starfleet, united till they returned home, united so they could get home. Kathryn and Chakotay's eyes met. No one knew they had met before, no one needed to know. But as they stared at each other, Captain and First Officer, they both wondered how they were going to survive the next seventy-five years as just colleagues, it would be fight they would both loose.   
  
As she stepped out into the blinding light of the sun, she looked around and smiled. After seven years, after the Caretaker, Species 8472, the Borg, the Kazon and every other species Voyager had encountered in the Delta Quadrant, they were home. She looked at the crowd of reporters that swarmed her crew, and she prepared to descend into the throng of story hungry people, waiting for Kathryn Janeway, the Captain and leader of the crew. She looked for a familiar face among the crowd, but she knew that he would not be there, he would be with Seven. She felt her chest burning with anguish, and jealously. He was hers, he had taken her heart and she knew that she had lost him. It was her fault her was gone, and she hated herself for it.   
  
He looked around, watching for Kathryn, hoping to see her. Seven held onto his arm, much like Kathryn did, many times. He wished it was she, but he knew that Kathryn had given up on him, he'd lost her, and he hated himself for it.   
  
They talked for a bit, exchanged addresses, new jobs and other small talk after the debriefings finished. They both knew it was over, they both knew they had to move on. They shook hands as it began to rain. The drops helped to mask Kathryn's tears, as she held tightly to Chakotay's hand. Neither wanted to let go, and Seven watched as Chakotay drew Kathryn into an embrace and whispered to her.  
"I'm sorry it had to end this way…" he muttered as he kissed her forehead  
" We had nothing to end Chakotay, you know that, I was too stubborn to express how I feel…"  
" It's not just you Kay…" She was startled at his use of her name. Kay. No one had called her that in years, as a matter of fact, after Chakotay left Starfleet; she stopped using that nickname. Everyone just called her Kathryn or Kat. It was strange to hear his lips form that word.   
"Kathryn?"   
"Chakotay, what did you just call me?"  
"Kay…"  
Her hand moved across his cheek, and she moved to trace his tattoo, " Thank you"  
" For what?"  
"For everything Chakotay, for everything." She looked over her shoulder, and saw Seven of Nine waiting for Chakotay. " Go ahead, maybe she won't be so stubborn as I was. Make sure you invite me to the wedding…" she smiled, the tears falling down her cheeks. He tightened his grip on her hand that still lingered on his chest.   
"How could I marry someone when my heart is entirely bound to someone else?"  
His eyes gazed into her own and he gently leaned down to kiss her…  
"What about Seven?"  
"She decide to pursue a relationship with the Doctor, I wasn't her 'type'". Kathryn smiled as he kissed her; they attacked each other's lips, hungry to taste each other after waiting seven years for first contact. Kathryn could feel the flash bulbs of the reporters as they kissed, but she didn't care. The man she had loved for what seemed like an eternity was finally hers. The rain poured down as Chakotay held Kathryn in his arms. They both had found love, and the woman warrior and her angry warrior had finally discovered the true meaning of peace.


End file.
